Power core
Power cores are a quantum-energy cold-fusion device designed and manufactured by Trident Industries. History The first power cores were invented in a Trident R&D lab in 2039 - although this is somewhat uncertain as six minutes following the critical discovery the lab and surrounding buildings were consumed in a cataclysmic explosion. Fortunately all relevant data was backed up to a Trident recovery facility and the first stable power core was constructed as a secure facility in 2041. Power cores were initially very scarce and only became commercially available in 2046 when the Herron-Wu automated manufacturing process was designed. Briefly employed before the Trauma, power cores were used in everything from transport to home entertainment. The economic disruption caused by power cores would have been devastating if not for the imminent collapse of civilization itself. Design All power cores are round metal spheres that glow brightly with a sharp white light. The sphere is the outer layer of a zero-point energy containment facility. Puncturing or rupturing a power core will result in a terrible explosion, but power core shells are extremely tough and such damage very hard to inflict. Variants Trident manufactured a number of variants of the power core for different applications, focusing either on output power or service lifetime. A standard mech core generates enough power to maintain an active mech for 500 days of standard operations, and can be recharged in 20 hours. Heavy-duty cores can generate 1200 kW for 90 days before requiring a four-day recharge cycle, and the very rare super-heavy core used in titan transports and other such applications can generate 300 MW of energy for 30 days. A superheavy core requires nearly 25 days to recharge, which means most users of them carry six to eight cores and rotate between them as each approaches the end of its charge. Use A power core generates an omnidirectional field of energy over a short range, which can be captured and redirected by a simple device called a coupler. Couplers exist to convert core energy into electricity, heat or mechanical power, although mechanical couplers impart their own restrictions into the purposes to which they can be applied. Lifespan A core can be recharged between ten to fifteen times before it ceases to function. A fully discharged core can be restored to full fuction at a Trident service depot, but service depots are extremely hard to find. The mechanism by which cores are restored to function is unknown - Trident depots use extremely effective anti-tamper mechanisms. Recharging A core can be recharged using almost any form of energy - simply leaving one in the sun will restore it to full power in time. However, more focused energy will restore the core faster, and most people recharge their cores by placing them in a fire - the hotter the fire, the faster the recharge. A power core's tungsten-carbide shell is unlikely to melt in anything less than a blast furnace - even a plasma blast does not damage it (although it would recharge a core almost instantly). Category:Technology